[okfn-discuss] Gephi network visualization proposal for the Knight News Challenge

Wed May 30 14:14:23 UTC 2012

Dear OKF Team,

I'm Sébastien Heymann, co-leader of the Gephi project
(https://gephi.org/), an open source tool to make sense with
relational data. I'm contacting you because we are considering to
apply for the next Knight News Challenge about data
(http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/faqs). Our idea is to create the
"Many Eyes" of networked data, for any kind of networks such as social
networks, interlocking directorates, email, Web, etc...and we need
your opinion on it.

This project will be a web platform to host, explore, and communicate
networked data on the Web, mobile and newspapers. The goal is to speed
up the work of journalists for the analysis and communication of
networks. Users will be able to explore networks and edit data
collaboratively like in:
http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?focus=section&section=5

Users will be also able to easily make embedded visualizations like
the following ones:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9159131/Syria-Asma-and-Bashar-al-Assads-email-network.html
http://ecologie.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/04/16/facenuke-la-cartographie-du-lobby-nucleaire-francais/

However we would like to know if this kind of tool fills some critical
needs for the journalists, and how to improve the proposal. What do
you think about the idea? I would be glad to discuss with you and your
expectations. I guess we might connect the platform to the Data Hub
and Open Spending to enable easy network analysis.

Thank you very much for your time,

Sébastien Heymann